Entrepreneurship

How to Create High-Quality Content with Little Money

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you when I say that blogging can get pretty overwhelming for one person.

You are the creator, editor, photographer, social media manager, videographer, sales, marketer, and customer service rep. You’re essentially doing a 10 person job with 1 person.

With that said, I am all about reaching for your dreams and going for the gold…within reason. If there’s something you’re not 100% skilled at or if taking on another project is too much, then don’t do it!

Quality trumps quantity, so you want to make sure you’re not just producing a ton of mediocre content because that’s what everyone else is doing. You want to create high-quality content as often as possible.

Some people dominate on YouTube, Snapchat, and Musical.ly. Others dominate on Instagram and Pinterest. The odds of you being great at all the social media platforms are slim.

In order to focus on what you are great at, you need to delegate mundane tasks and learn where to focus your time. Here’s a start…

Host an internship

If you are a fashion blogger and need extra help, internships are a no brainier. They’re free labor for you and hopefully a great experience for the intern.

The time has never been better for fashion bloggers to take advantage of the opportunity to have an intern because there is only so much availability at Vogue. Plus, you have hundreds upon thousands of recent college grads looking for experience in fashion.

Bloggers are now just as influential, if not more, than major fashion publications, which mean there are thousands of fashionistas who would jump at the opportunity to intern with you. Granted you should be somewhat established at this point and be able to offer valuable experience for your intern.

You can advertise for an intern on Craig’s List, your blog, job boards, or college forums.

Hire college kids to help

Aside from getting free work from interns, you can pay kids who are still in college at minimum wage (unless you can afford more, then by all means pay more!).

If you’re wondering why… Well have you seen how talented some college-aged graphic artists are?! Some of these students already have businesses under their belts. Most college students are quick, trendy, motivated, and hard working.

You can advertise for their work on Facebook by asking friends of friends or posting in college or niche-based Facebook groups. For example, if you’re looking for a graphic designer, you can search graphic design groups, art school groups, etc.

Get a VA

If you’re looking for someone to fill mundane virtual tasks like ordering groceries for pick up, replying to emails, scheduling social media, or promoting content, then a VA (aka virtual assistant) will give you what you need, so you can use your limited time to create quality content.

Virtual assistants can run super cheap too, like $5/hour cheap. Why? Because you’re outsourcing your VA. This allows you to focus on your strengths while someone else handles the boring, routine stuff.

Obviously, you want to hire from a trusted company since you’re giving them access to your email and social media. These sites are highly recommended by Tim Ferris (entrepreneur/author) though I can’t speak for them personally: Brickwork India and Your Man In India.

Do the things only you can do

I first heard of this advice from Katherine Power: only do things that only you can do.

Can someone else respond to emails or can only you do that? Can someone else schedule your social media or can only you do it? What is your strong suit?

There’s a reason you started blogging in the first place – you had a passion, a voice, an opinion, a story to tell and those are things only you can convey, so that needs to be your focus. You are the face of your blog/business, so whatever requires your face (e.g. photo shoots, high-priority meetings, speaking events, etc.) need to be the places you spend your time.

When you try to wear too many hats and take on too many things, it’s impossible to maintain quality and sanity. No one is good at everything, so find the right people who are good at a few things you’re not.

What is the most frustrating part about blogging for you? Tell us in the comments.